User Reviews (8)

these r not aight... theyre AWESOME i bought a pair last year.... look awsome and sound quality is awesome
MUST BUY

OVERALLRATING

5

★★★★★

★★★★★

VALUERATING

4

★★★★★

★★★★★

pearson AudioPhile

[Feb 15, 2011]

these r not aight... theyre AWESOME i bought a pair last year.... look awsome and sound quality is awesome
MUST BUY

OVERALLRATING

5

★★★★★

★★★★★

VALUERATING

4

★★★★★

★★★★★

Eurydice
AudioPhile [Sep 12, 2010]

I will make this short. If you listen mainly to classical, opera or acoustical music, Orpheus is the best heaphone ever by far.
I have owned Sennheiser HE60, Stax Omega 2, Stax 303. I have auditioned Stax Omega 1, Stax 404, Sony R10, Senn HD800. All these are significantly inferior to the Sennheiser Orpheus, it is not even close.
What the Orpheus does is a wonderfull, shimmering presentation of the music, giving you the ultimate in listening pleasure. The tone of this phone is as faithful to real instruments as can be.
The Sennheiser Orpheus is limited production of only 300 units. I donÂ´t think something like this SOTA product ever will be produced again, so if you have the opportunity to get a set, donÂ´t think twice.

OVERALLRATING

5

★★★★★

★★★★★

VALUERATING

5

★★★★★

★★★★★

Eurydice AudioPhile

[Sep 12, 2010]

I will make this short. If you listen mainly to classical, opera or acoustical music, Orpheus is the best heaphone ever by far.
I have owned Sennheiser HE60, Stax Omega 2, Stax 303. I have auditioned Stax Omega 1, Stax 404, Sony R10, Senn HD800. All these are significantly inferior to the Sennheiser Orpheus, it is not even close.
What the Orpheus does is a wonderfull, shimmering presentation of the music, giving you the ultimate in listening pleasure. The tone of this phone is as faithful to real instruments as can be.
The Sennheiser Orpheus is limited production of only 300 units. I donÂ´t think something like this SOTA product ever will be produced again, so if you have the opportunity to get a set, donÂ´t think twice.

OVERALLRATING

5

★★★★★

★★★★★

VALUERATING

5

★★★★★

★★★★★

heh
AudioPhile [Jan 18, 2010]

Anyone who leaves these a poor or "aight" review, or say things like "they work fine", like two previous reviewers here, have never owned nor even tried them, or their ears are so untrained that they honestly can't tell the difference between a $30-$50 pair of Skullcandy and $600-$15,000 Sennheiser (if you can't tell the difference and call yourself an audiophile, you are a joke of a human being). Likely the reviewer himself is the son who owns the Skullcandy - some teen posers on the internet just like to talk about owning something really expensive and referring to it as "mediocre" so they can seem like they are the type of person who throws around $20,000 like chump change.

I had a chance to try these at a "financially comfortable" acquaintance's home. He let me do some side-by-side tests using a couple other Sennheiser models as well as other brands. The Sennheisers generally won hands down (for me, though he leaned towards some other makes - the human ear is subjective), and among them all these were by far the best. We're not talking about the placebo effect here either. For most people these will not be worth the money, at $15,000+ a pop they are for wealthy audiophiles only; my acquaintance even admitted to me that he wasn't sure about springing for them himself, as he believes there tends to be a point of diminishing returns when talking about the human ear and how our brain processes audio information. Working class joes like myself have to settle for the HD650's or HD800's, though it can hardly be called settling as those are both of supreme quality. However if you can afford the Orpheus, they will be the best thing you've ever put on your head. So for value compared to price, 3/5. For quality, an obvious 5/5.

OVERALLRATING

5

★★★★★

★★★★★

VALUERATING

3

★★★★★

★★★★★

heh AudioPhile

[Jan 18, 2010]

Anyone who leaves these a poor or "aight" review, or say things like "they work fine", like two previous reviewers here, have never owned nor even tried them, or their ears are so untrained that they honestly can't tell the difference between a $30-$50 pair of Skullcandy and $600-$15,000 Sennheiser (if you can't tell the difference and call yourself an audiophile, you are a joke of a human being). Likely the reviewer himself is the son who owns the Skullcandy - some teen posers on the internet just like to talk about owning something really expensive and referring to it as "mediocre" so they can seem like they are the type of person who throws around $20,000 like chump change.

I had a chance to try these at a "financially comfortable" acquaintance's home. He let me do some side-by-side tests using a couple other Sennheiser models as well as other brands. The Sennheisers generally won hands down (for me, though he leaned towards some other makes - the human ear is subjective), and among them all these were by far the best. We're not talking about the placebo effect here either. For most people these will not be worth the money, at $15,000+ a pop they are for wealthy audiophiles only; my acquaintance even admitted to me that he wasn't sure about springing for them himself, as he believes there tends to be a point of diminishing returns when talking about the human ear and how our brain processes audio information. Working class joes like myself have to settle for the HD650's or HD800's, though it can hardly be called settling as those are both of supreme quality. However if you can afford the Orpheus, they will be the best thing you've ever put on your head. So for value compared to price, 3/5. For quality, an obvious 5/5.

OVERALLRATING

5

★★★★★

★★★★★

VALUERATING

3

★★★★★

★★★★★

dem
AudioPhile [Jun 29, 2009]

These are definitely not worth the money, I figured for the price they should be great, so i picked up two of them. It turns out that they don't even sound better than my sons skullycandy hesh headphones. I ended up giving one of these to my 13 yr old and smashing the other in rage. Oh well, my son seems to think they sound almost as good as his bose quiet comfort 2.

OVERALLRATING

2

★★★★★

★★★★★

VALUERATING

1

★★★★★

★★★★★

dem AudioPhile

[Jun 29, 2009]

These are definitely not worth the money, I figured for the price they should be great, so i picked up two of them. It turns out that they don't even sound better than my sons skullycandy hesh headphones. I ended up giving one of these to my 13 yr old and smashing the other in rage. Oh well, my son seems to think they sound almost as good as his bose quiet comfort 2.

OVERALLRATING

2

★★★★★

★★★★★

VALUERATING

1

★★★★★

★★★★★

Rick
AudioPhile [Jun 22, 2003]

I bought a pair about half a year a go and they work fine. If price doesn't bother you then fire away. The whole set is a bit big (oversized), but the sound quality is pretty 'aight so if you get the chance to get one of these toys go ahead.

OVERALLRATING

3

★★★★★

★★★★★

VALUERATING

3

★★★★★

★★★★★

Rick AudioPhile

[Jun 22, 2003]

I bought a pair about half a year a go and they work fine. If price doesn't bother you then fire away. The whole set is a bit big (oversized), but the sound quality is pretty 'aight so if you get the chance to get one of these toys go ahead.

OVERALLRATING

3

★★★★★

★★★★★

VALUERATING

3

★★★★★

★★★★★

Jack L
an Audiophile [Jun 15, 1999]

$13,999 doesn't just get you the finest electrostaic headphones on the planet. It also buys you a superb headphone amp and built-in D/A converter. Still, $14K is alot of money but I heard them at a High End HiFi show several years back and was blown away!! Don't knock it til you've tried it!!

OVERALLRATING

5

★★★★★

★★★★★

VALUERATING

★★★★★

★★★★★

Jack L an Audiophile

[Jun 15, 1999]

$13,999 doesn't just get you the finest electrostaic headphones on the planet. It also buys you a superb headphone amp and built-in D/A converter. Still, $14K is alot of money but I heard them at a High End HiFi show several years back and was blown away!! Don't knock it til you've tried it!!

OVERALLRATING

5

★★★★★

★★★★★

VALUERATING

★★★★★

★★★★★

Tom
an Audio Enthusiast [Oct 04, 1999]

I heard the Orpheus when I was interested in trying the HD-600's, and I just couldn't buy the 600's afterward. These phones are unbelievable! I have to say for the price I definitely could live with the Baby Orpheus. As Sennheiser says, they really do have 90% of the goods that come with the big boys. Now for a sale...

OVERALLRATING

5

★★★★★

★★★★★

VALUERATING

★★★★★

★★★★★

Tom an Audio Enthusiast

[Oct 04, 1999]

I heard the Orpheus when I was interested in trying the HD-600's, and I just couldn't buy the 600's afterward. These phones are unbelievable! I have to say for the price I definitely could live with the Baby Orpheus. As Sennheiser says, they really do have 90% of the goods that come with the big boys. Now for a sale...

OVERALLRATING

5

★★★★★

★★★★★

VALUERATING

★★★★★

★★★★★

Maxim Arkhipov
Audio Enthusiast [Sep 23, 2000]

Strength:

magic sound, great looks, well built

Weakness:

read review

well, I finally tried these yesterday at LIVE2000 show where Senheiser presented their full range in action. The stand was a little noisy, but reasonably acceptable for listening purposes.I've been using my HD600s with MF X-PSU + X-CANs for over a year now and I thought (until yesterday) that this was a pretty good quality standard, sort of a reference for myself. Well in fact it is, but... It's just like the feeling when you get used to hi-fi and suddenly discover real hi-end sound. You simply can't say that Orpheus is "better" or "much better" than generally available models - that sort of statement would sound like an insult... for it's miles away from the closest contestant. Having said that I acknowledge that I may sound a little radical here and my final opinion would be formed after testing another lower-end electrostatic model from Senhzr and other brands. But anyway, I tell you , it was a shock, real and pleasant one- something that made me write this report.Bodywork - well built, lots of wood; headset turned out to be much bigger than I expected - very "roomy" inside which may contribute (together with electrostatic nature of the device) to surround effect and openness of the sound; very comfortable; Amp looks just great, but it gets really hot ! gain of the volume control is weak - that I disliked - and you can't play music really loud.Sound - very hard to comment on that. I'd just say - REAL. I listened some test CD with different tracks on it and just couldn't stop listening. I actually turned around couple of times for I thought that the voice I heard was coming from someone standing behind me, while there was no one there. Very real. I wish I had couple of my own CDs to give it a real test. It's hard to say how Metallica would sound on it, but anything vocal or instrumental sounds awesome.Value - that's a tricky point and here are my thoughts. Orpheus gives you listening pleasure comparable to one you get from 20-40k full system... for less than 15k. That's not too bad at first sight. Add 5-10k for a top-notch playback system and cables - you're somewhere near 20k already... hmmm and that's what you spend for just listening your music for yourself in silence, alone. Unless you're real headphones freak (or, possibly, your room is too small or you don't care about the money at all or... some other personal reason) this deal can hardly be called a bargain. Personally, I was left thinking about what's better - best headhones ever or nice full system ? The right answer is "both" .. yeah :-), but I'd probably start with the system first and then move on to Orpheus, not vice versa. A bit of saving, a bit of patience and we'll all be there.So, in a nutshell - very rare, stylish and dear top-quality toy for real headphone lovers. Overall rating 4 due to value issues

p.s. CD players used : Myryad MC100 with HD600s and MCD500 with Orpheus

Similar Products Used:
HD600

OVERALLRATING

4

★★★★★

★★★★★

VALUERATING

3

★★★★★

★★★★★

Maxim Arkhipov Audio Enthusiast

[Sep 23, 2000]

Strength:

magic sound, great looks, well built

Weakness:
read review

well, I finally tried these yesterday at LIVE2000 show where Senheiser presented their full range in action. The stand was a little noisy, but reasonably acceptable for listening purposes.I've been using my HD600s with MF X-PSU + X-CANs for over a year now and I thought (until yesterday) that this was a pretty good quality standard, sort of a reference for myself. Well in fact it is, but... It's just like the feeling when you get used to hi-fi and suddenly discover real hi-end sound. You simply can't say that Orpheus is "better" or "much better" than generally available models - that sort of statement would sound like an insult... for it's miles away from the closest contestant. Having said that I acknowledge that I may sound a little radical here and my final opinion would be formed after testing another lower-end electrostatic model from Senhzr and other brands. But anyway, I tell you , it was a shock, real and pleasant one- something that made me write this report.Bodywork - well built, lots of wood; headset turned out to be much bigger than I expected - very "roomy" inside which may contribute (together with electrostatic nature of the device) to surround effect and openness of the sound; very comfortable; Amp looks just great, but it gets really hot ! gain of the volume control is weak - that I disliked - and you can't play music really loud.Sound - very hard to comment on that. I'd just say - REAL. I listened some test CD with different tracks on it and just couldn't stop listening. I actually turned around couple of times for I thought that the voice I heard was coming from someone standing behind me, while there was no one there. Very real. I wish I had couple of my own CDs to give it a real test. It's hard to say how Metallica would sound on it, but anything vocal or instrumental sounds awesome.Value - that's a tricky point and here are my thoughts. Orpheus gives you listening pleasure comparable to one you get from 20-40k full system... for less than 15k. That's not too bad at first sight. Add 5-10k for a top-notch playback system and cables - you're somewhere near 20k already... hmmm and that's what you spend for just listening your music for yourself in silence, alone. Unless you're real headphones freak (or, possibly, your room is too small or you don't care about the money at all or... some other personal reason) this deal can hardly be called a bargain. Personally, I was left thinking about what's better - best headhones ever or nice full system ? The right answer is "both" .. yeah :-), but I'd probably start with the system first and then move on to Orpheus, not vice versa. A bit of saving, a bit of patience and we'll all be there.So, in a nutshell - very rare, stylish and dear top-quality toy for real headphone lovers. Overall rating 4 due to value issues

p.s. CD players used : Myryad MC100 with HD600s and MCD500 with Orpheus